Remember to vote February 13, 2018. Northshore School District is presenting three funding measures.

You may have seen flyers or the recent Woodinville Weekly article about the upcoming Northshore School District Bond measures… what is missing from the article and flyers are the dollars – the cost - for each bond measure, so here are the numbers:

If the 2018 bonds are passed that means from 2006 through 2018 Northshore will have had Capital Projects totaling $724 million.

A Perspective: I've asked people living in this area and according to their last Snohomish County property tax statements, 37% of our property tax goes to Northshore School District.

Bill Stankus, Woodinville

36 years ago, I moved to Woodinville so my children could attend Northshore schools. All three of my children are now successfully employed and making their own contributions to society.

I’ve been teaching at Woodin Elementary for 17 years. I can tell you that our community’s continued financial support for our schools is essential for our students. I’m asking you to vote YES on Northshore’s renewal funding measures.

THE THREE RENEWAL MEASURES REDUCE OUR LOCAL TAX RATES.

The three renewal funding measures reduce the rates of our local property taxes from $4.01 to $3.89 per thousand dollars of property value.

WHY ARE THESE MEASURES IS ESSENTIAL?

First, local levy dollars pay for over 20% of Northshore’s budget! This includes smaller class sizes, special education, help for our neediest students and opportunities for our most advanced, school nurses at every school, sports, clubs, professional development for staff, and much more.

Second, every school district, including Northshore, must rely on local bonds (or levies) for school construction and renovation. Thousands of additional kids have entered our Northshore schools in the past couple of years--enough to fill several new schools—but there is no room for them. They are stuck in portables. Our Renewal Capital Projects Bond will build a new school and additional classrooms. It will purchase improved security enhancements.

THE STATE’S NEW FUNDING FORMULA DOES NOT FULLY FUND OUR SCHOOLS.

The Court has ordered the Legislature to add $1 billion for next year alone, and they haven’t done that yet. However, they keep increasing unfunded requirements like the 24 high school credits to graduate.

State funding is only about meeting minimum requirements. This is not enough for our children to succeed in the global marketplace.

Northshore has always provided more than the minimal standard of education for our youth, and with your continued support, we’ll continue to do so.

Please vote YES on all three measures! Ballots must be mailed or dropped off by Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m.

2018 marks the 25th Anniversary of the City of Woodinville. March 31st at 12:00 a.m. marks the official incorporation date and time the city was incorporated.

On March 15, 1993, through Resolution NO.31, the city's first City Council declared the City of Woodinville officially incorporated as of March 31, 1993, as the 270th incorporated city in the State of Washington. The City Council of the City of Woodinville pledged its commitment to maintain the quality of life and community spirit we all enjoy and extended its wishes for a bright and prosperous future for each and every resident of our City.

It just so happens that this year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Woodinville Farmers Market. It is with high hopes that the Farmers Market will open it's 25th season in a redeveloped DeYoung Park. The redevelopment of the park is scheduled to begin shortly after February 20th, when the current city council will be asked to consider approval of a construction contract.

This year also marks the beginning of Woodinville Rotary's "Peace Pole Project’, starting in DeYoung Park. With the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth", 20 Peace Poles have been sponsored by members of the community, and the design of the poles is scheduled to begin very soon.

Happy 25th Birthday to the City of Woodinville and the Woodinville Farmers Market!

Elaine Cook

AGING PARENTS DRIVING

Who is responsible for making sure our aging parents are still capable of safely operating a motor vehicle?

My mother had her license renewed year after year simply because she had no tickets or accidents and she was completely incapable of driving a car!

I’ve witnessed some occasions where I was convinced that some of our senior residents should absolutely NOT be driving. One day while I was getting gas a woman pulled into the station who had to be in her 80’s. She didn’t know which side of the car her gas tank was on and couldn’t operate the gas pump either. Her windshield wipers were on and she didn’t know how to turn them off. The young man at the station was kind enough to help her but when I asked him about this incident he said it wasn’t the first time he’d had to assist this woman and he was worried that she would soon be responsible for an accident.

Who do you call?

I was afraid that if the police were asked to respond she may panic and hurt herself or someone else, so I was in a dilemma as well.

I'd like to point out that you missed the gross illegality of Ordinance 18403 - King County is trying to charge for the use of what is the equivalent of an easement on my property (the right-of-way). King County may not charge a fee for that which it does not own; my property includes the public right-of-way. See mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/January-2014/What-is-the-Nature-of-a-Public-Right-of-Way.aspx for more information on this, including case law from before Washington was a state that says that ownership of rights-of-way stay with the owner of the adjacent property.

Renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is underway. Concerned citizens desire democratic, transparent negotiations. Imperative for U.S. negotiators is the removal of controversial NAFTA provisions that gave multi-national corporations immense powers to attack environmental and consumer safety laws which corporations deem detrimental to their business model and to offshore American jobs.

Perhaps the most egregious chapter of NAFTA is the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). Under this provision of NAFTA multi-national corporations have the right to sue for the loss of anticipated future profits before a tribunal of three corporate lawyers. This tribunal can order American taxpayers to pay corporations when their lawyers “prove” to the tribunal that existing laws protecting public health or the environment violate special trade agreement rights and thereby impede the corporation’s ability to make profits. The tribunal’s decisions are not subject to appeal. Corporations thus benefit from a special system of “justice” outside our courts.

These 1994 NAFTA trade provisions, coupled with 1995 World Trade Organization agreements, precipitated the loss of more than 79,000 Washington jobs according to the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Americans nationwide have experienced the loss of nearly five million manufacturing jobs. This “free trade” agreement has driven down wages and created record trade deficits. The Center for Economic and Policy Research found that a majority of Americans have experienced wage suppression of 12.2 %. In 2016, the trade deficit for American goods rose to $173 billion.

A new trade agreement must include enforceable labor and environmental standards which protect us all from corporate greed. Replacing NAFTA is essential to creating a global economy which benefits working families instead of corporate elites.

On November 27 I received a letter from the Woodinville Water District with the heading “Notice of Utility Rate Increase Due to King County Right-Of-Way Rental Fee/Tax.”

~ I have seen nothing in print or other media announcing or even discussing this issue.~ Apparently this was passed as an Ordinance on November 7, 2016.~ From the date passed, only 30 days are set aside for comments. It certainly smells as a fast track to implementation.~ If not for the WWD, I probably would not have found out about it until I questioned our various utility bill increases.~ Every homeowner that pays for utilities could be facing an additional county tax approaching $500/year.~ This is serious money county wide.~ Even worse, the money collected goes to the general fund.~ Nothing is earmarked for road improvement.

I am completely opposed to this underhanded attempt to pass new substantial tax law.

It is nothing short of a complete money grab.

I encourage each of you to voice your opinion both to your county representative and the website in the WWD letter.

Ed Ries - Woodinville

NEW COUNTY FEE / ORDIANCE 18403

Last November (2016) the council passed Ordinance 18403 (sponsored by Balducci, Upthegrove, Lambert, and Dembowski), which charges “rent” to utilities to use the King County right-of-way to help defray the costs resulting from allowing use of public property by the utilities. While I agree with the reasoning for these fees, I do not agree with the disposition of the money. It is to be put in the General Fund for use for anything. This money should be used solely to defray costs resulting from use of public land by the utilities, not for housing, or jails, or administrative costs, etc. If we allow this kind of blanket taxation our taxes will be higher, but our roads will still be falling apart.